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Hate to say this, but humans like to manipulate markets, whether it's property, stocks, and of course, cryptocurrencies.

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If one particular cryptocurrency is literally in freefall, but the rest of the market is not, maybe it's time to take a step back and wait to see what comes out of the ashes.

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Sam Bankman-Fried stole over $12 billion from investors. That's why it's so important to protect your money and avoid all types of Ponzi schemes.

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I'm Matthew Fraser, and this is Amazon ecom secrets. I'll be sharing with you the secrets that helped me go from millions in debt to an eight-figure entrepreneur.

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If you're ready to escape the nine-to-five and live life on your terms, let me show you the way. Hey guys, welcome to Amazon ecom secrets.

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My name is Matthew Fraser, and in this episode, I'm going to be talking about crypto scandals and collapses.

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Now you're gonna say to me, why on earth am I talking about crypto? Because when it doesn't exactly relate to Amazon ecom secrets.

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When you build up your business, you're going to start making profit, and you're going to want to know, where do I put this profit?

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Like, what assets do I buy? Do I buy property? Do I buy crypto? Do I buy stocks? All of those types of things are on the table for you, but I'm going to focus today on crypto.

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Now, that's one of the things that I personally focus on. I do have properties, and I also have a lot of crypto, mainly in Bitcoin.

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Crypto, meaning the broad term, and Bitcoin is what I focus on mainly. Now, it's so important that I share with you the scandals within crypto.

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So that you, if you do decide to invest in crypto, you don't go in blindly thinking everything is going to be rosy.

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Because I've been in this game now for just over three years, and even in that very short amount of time, I've seen some absolute disasters.

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Not just in the companies and people behind the crypto who are scamming people and stealing your money, but also from friends and acquaintances who have lost so much money.

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I'm talking their life savings. So listen up, and let's get into it.

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2013: Silk Road. Now, this was an online marketplace known for facilitating illegal transactions, including drug sales using Bitcoin as a means of payment.

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And they operated on the dark web and were eventually shut down by law enforcement in 2013.

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Now, the case brought scrutiny to Bitcoin's use in illicit activities and raised regulatory concerns.

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What people don't realize now is that, because Bitcoin is traceable, it's on a blockchain. You can, you can, the transactions are recorded.

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Drug dealers and people doing illicit activities have now realized that Bitcoin is a terrible place to do business and use Bitcoin as a payment because of that very reason.

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So they're going back to supposedly cash, because cash you can't trace. I'm going to take you right back to 2014: the Mt. Gox scandal.

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Which is kind of interesting because it's relevant today, as some of the people who had invested in Mt. Gox can now get some of their crypto back in 2024.

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But in 2014, Mt. Gox was the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world until it filed for bankruptcy in about February of 2014.

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It claimed that it had lost 850,000 Bitcoins, which was worth approximately $450 million due to hacking.

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Now, this incident highlighted a security vulnerability in crypto exchanges and led to massive losses for many retail investors, just like you and me.

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2016 was Bitfinex hack. Now, Bitfinex, a major cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked in August of 2016 and it resulted in the theft of 120,000 Bitcoins.

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Which at the time was worth $72 million. Now, keep in mind that there's only 21 million Bitcoins that will ever be produced, and to date, there's about nearly 20 million odd Bitcoins in the market.

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So that gives you some context. Now, to mitigate the losses, Bitfinex distributed tokens to affected users.

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Dollars that represented their lost funds, sparking debates over security measures and exchange transparency.

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Now let's talk about Bitcoin Ponzi schemes in general. Now, various Ponzi schemes have exploited Bitcoin's decentralized nature and promise of high returns.

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Now you're gonna say, what is decentralized? What does that mean? It means there's basically no one behind the asset.

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You can't, there's no sort of like Bitcoin customer service that you can call up. There's no one there controlling the purse strings of Bitcoin because it is decentralized.

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Unlike banks, which are centralized. So if something happens, you can call up the bank customer service, and there's someone there who can help.

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Examples of the Ponzi schemes include the 2012 Bitcoin Savings and Trust Ponzi scheme, run by Trendon Shavers, which defrauded investors of approximately 700,000 Bitcoins.

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And in 2017, the BitConnect scam, which collapsed after facing legal actions for operating an unregistered securities offering.

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That's why it's so important to protect your money and avoid all types of Ponzi schemes. Right now in Australia, you can actually buy your Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies through places like SwiftX and CoinSpot.

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These two exchanges are regulated in Australia. Alright guys, the next big scandal was 2019: QuadrigaCX exchange.

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QuadrigaCX, once a prominent Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, became embroiled in controversy when its CEO Gerald Cotton died unexpectedly in December of 2018.

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Reportedly taking with him the passwords to access the exchange's cold wallets containing approximately $190 million worth of cryptocurrencies.

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For those of you who are just pausing for a second thinking, what the hell is a cold wallet? It's basically taking your crypto off the internet and putting it into your own personal possession.

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They call it self-custody, and it gives your crypto some level of protection because it creates a buffer between your wallet and the internet, preventing hacks.

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Now the problem is you need to have your own private key to access the wallet, so unless someone has access to that key, it's gonna be incredibly hard to get into that wallet.

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QuadrigaCX's inability to recover the funds led to widespread allegations of fraud and mismanagement.

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So there you have it, guys. That's a rundown of the major crypto scandals. The biggest takeaway is that, as with any investment, it's crucial to do your due diligence and be cautious of where you put your money.

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I hope this has shed some light on the world of cryptocurrency and why it's essential to approach it with caution. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next episode of Amazon ecom secrets.